


Stick Souls Shenanigans

by ZuskatoR3D



Category: Original Work, Toram online
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:51:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21671356
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZuskatoR3D/pseuds/ZuskatoR3D
Summary: Just some random shenanigans that happen to Stick Souls.
Kudos: 4





	1. Introduction

In the beautiful city of Sofya City, named after the Goddess of Wisdom, Sofya and within its walls, houses many great people and adventurers, rich and famous for its hospitality and almost no crime, is the go-to spot for any aspiring adventurer looking to prove themselves to the world.

It was also home to many adventurer guilds, some new, some old, some strong, some weak, many different guilds could be found in Sofya City, but our story starts with one particular guild, a guild of friends, the Stick Souls guild.

-

"Anyone here?" A young male voice asked, looking around, he found none of his guildmates have arrived making him the first to come to the Guild Bar, he came into view wearing a black Gothic-style suit with golden designs, a black officer's hat with golden horns and red stripe going around it, a beak-like mask covering the eye portion of his face, a pair of black gloves, white pants and black boots that had golden stripes.

On his hips was his Katana, it's sheath black and red and a knife sheath was on his right, he slowly made his way to one of the chairs and sat on it, putting his hand on the table, he took off his hat and placed it on the table while running his left hand through his spiky black hair, sighing softly.

"Guess I'll be waiting for them." Zuskato shrugged while undoing the straps on his mask revealing his crimson eyes, it was supposed to be another guild meet up, but he came too early again, so waiting for his guildmates was something he's used to.

"Wonder who's gonna come." He hummed, taking a glance at the framed clock in the leftmost side of the guild bar, the clock read 9:37 am, the rest of his guildmates would be here by 12 pm, so he had time to spare.

Zuskato unsheathed his knife and began spinning it in his fingers. Expertly twisting the knife and twirling it around his gloved hand, he then flipped the knife in the air letting it hit down to the table and stuck itself to the wooden furniture. Zuskato stared at the blade and shrugged as he tried pulling it out.

The raven-haired male was surprised by how deep his knife went through the table. He struggled to try to uproot the bladed object out of the table, the next few minutes were just him trying and failing to get his knife back.

The guild door opened, Zuskato turned his attention to said door and saw another male walk inside the Bar, this time taller than Zuskato himself, sporting brown hair with a somewhat feminine face, his clothing consisted of a black trench coat with a white long sleeve shirt with a brown undershirt. Black pants and same colored shoes, a spear was strapped to his back.

Tetsu scanned the whole room and spotted Zuskato, he smiled and waved, making his way close to the table and his guildmate, taking a seat next to him. Tetsu intertwined his hands together and said.

"Yo." He greeted, shifting in his seat to get into a more comfortable position, "You're here early."

"I could say the same to you." Zuskato quipped, smiling as Tetsu sent his own.

"Touché." The brunette admitted both of them shared a laugh. Tetsu was the first to recompose himself and began, "So, the others aren't here yet?"

"Nope," Zuskato replied while popping the P in his sentence.

"Just us then?" Tetsu followed up.

"Yeah, for now at least, I think Joe'll arrive soon," Zuskato noted, his friend nodding along with him.

"I just hope-" Tetsu shuddered, "Cassie won't come."

Zuskato grinned with glee, not that Tetsu could see it with his eyes closed, but before the raven-haired male's grin grew he schooled his face as to not give away the surprise. Zuskato instead stood up from his seat and went behind the bar counter, Tetsu followed suit, seating on one of the chairs provided for the bar.

The young guild leader crouched down and grabbed a wine bottle along with two glass cups, a metal bowl with dozens of ice cubes in it, and placed them all on the counter, he expertly shook the wine bottle flipping and shaking it putting in a show for Tetsu who patiently waited for his glass.

With one last flip, Zuskato poured the wine into the two cups and grabbed two ice cubes each, dropping the frozen substance into the rich and golden liquid, it hissed in response, Zuskato pushed Tetsu's cup to him and took his own. All of this was done without spilling a single drop.

"Awesome," Tetsu commented, impressed by his friend's proficiency, he grabbed the cup and sniffed it, yup, it's alcoholic alright, he took a shot and the drink burned inside of him, Tetsu hummed blissfully.

On the opposite side of the counter, Zuskato smiled as he saw how satisfied Tetsu was with his work. Seeing as he might as well join in, the raven-haired leader drank his shot.

"Well, while the others aren't here yet, how about we finish this wine bottle?" Putting down the cup, Zuskato suggested, the brunette finished his glass and sighed, he motioned for his friend for another who compiled.

"Really?" Tetsu asked.

"Yup." Zuskato grinned.

"You're on." The brunette challenged, causing the raven-haired male to chuckle.

Sometime later...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

"I'm telling- *hick* yOU- I'm n0t drunk!"

A red-faced Tetsu barked, his head laying on the counter as his empty glass was toppled over, three bottles of wine were present all of which were empty of its contents, on the opposite side, Zuskato had finished his glass of wine and cleaned it slowly with a small white handkerchief. 

The raven-haired male watched as his older guildmate mumbled in his drunken state, both of them have been drinking for about half an hour or so, give or take, Tetsu had already shown signs of being drunk after the 10th shot. 

Nothing much happened, other than Zuskato dealing with his friend's constant mumbling and the occasional "You freaking bastard!" Or "I'm not drunk!" He, for the life of him, always find Tetsu to be a hell of a lot more funnier when he's drunk, he can't explain it, but Drunk Tetsu, Drunksu- is one of the funniest things that comes to Zuskato's mind.

"Whatever you say, Tetsu." Zuskato chuckled, taking the finished wine bottles and put them all to the corner for later refillment, he took his friend's glass and cleaned it up just like his own. Once he was done he bent done and placed them back where they belong.

He stood up to straighten himself out, dusting off his clothes, Zuskato's eyes fell on Tetsu's sleeping form, which probably could be to thanks to his drunken state, the raven-haired male walked out of the bar counter and made his way close to the brunette.

"Huh, he's asleep, well that's a relief," Zuskato commented, watching as Tetsu breathe in and out slowly, the young guild leader shrugged, going back behind the bar counter and idly began cleaning the glasses again, he pulled out his white handkerchief and waited for the others to come. 

Luckily, he didn't need to wait, the guild doors clicked, and a person stepped inside the building, Zuskato turned his head to the door to see who it was and he saw another male, this time shorter than him, with green colored hair and same colored eyes, wearing a green bandana around his neck, he wore a green shirt adorned with leather armour, same-colored pants and brown boots for footwear, and lastly, two brownish short swords were strapped to his back.

"Yello." Banana Joe said causally, doing a salute wave with two fingers, Zuskato waved back to the newcomer, Joe then gazed at Tetsu sleeping in on the bar counter. The greenette raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to ask, but Zuskato already but him to the question.

"If you're wondering why Tetsu's asleep." Zuskato commented, "It's because we drank some wine while waiting for you guys and he got drunk." He explained, shrugging as if it normally happens every now and then. Joe stared at his leader with an empty look, but then shrugged himself.

"Ok, but why drinking?" Joe asked, taking a seat near the counter but not close enough for Tetsu to hear the conversation, the greenette gestured for his friend to take a seat next to him, who complied with the request.

"I told myself that, but I just grin and did it anyway," Zuskato admitted with a smirk on his face.

"Okay, anything interesting Tetsu did while being drunk?"

"Nope, surprisingly, though I can't complain the wine wasn't even alcoholic." Zuskato shrugged, Joe was then dumbfounded, what does he mean not alcoholic?

"What do you mean not alcoholic?" Joe said perplexed, but instead of answering right away, his raven-haired friend placed the glass he was cleaning to the right and bent down grabbing a wine bottle as he then reached for the glass he used prior to Joe's arrival.

Like he did before, Zuskato expertly shook the wine bottle before serving a glass of its contents, the raven-haired male then threw it up in the air as it spun around three times just as he caught the spinning bottle and poured a glass, pushing it to Joe.

He picked up the cup and sniffed it, and it smelled like alcohol, he placed down the bottle and glanced at Zuskato, said person raised an eyebrow, "What? Just drink it, it's not like the potion from last time." Joe shivered as he remembered a past memory where Zuskato gave him that cursed drink.

"I told you not to remind me that." The greenette groaned.

"Just drink the damn thing." 

"Fine."

With a heavy breath, Joe chugged the whole cup in one take. Zuskato crossed his arms as he observed his younger guildmate drinking the beverage. Once he finished the drink, he slammed the cup back down to the table but not enough to shatter it. Joe had his eyes closed waiting for the liquid to take its course, moments passed and nothing happened.

Joe opened his eyes and blinked several times, the dumbfounded expression almost had Zuskato bursting out of laughter, luckily, what did come out was a soft chuckle, the raven-haired leader took the cup back and cleaned it thoroughly while putting it back and then everything else to their rightful spot.

"Told you the wine isn't alcoholic, just made Tetsu think it is," Zuskato replied as he straightened his handkerchief before placing it back into his pockets. 

"And how were you able to do that?" Joe asked, perplexed at Zuskato's antics, then again, he knew him well enough to know what kind of things he can and can't do.

"That's a secret I'll never tell." He smiled gleefully with his index finger over his lips.

"Cassie! No!" Tetsu suddenly shouted as he had his hand up before going back to sleep as both of his guildmates had their attention on him.

The two then looked back at each other and silently nodded as they wait for their other guildmates to arrive.


	2. Powerleveling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Powerleveling, it is hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was based on a true story, was hunting minibosses with the gang till we (they) accidentally aggroed two more minibosses which I had to solo.
> 
> Yeah, I was pissed when it happened.

"Ah, shit-" Zuskato cursed as he avoided the sharp end of an Odelon's tentacle, angered, the monster unleashed a series of slashes towards the guild leader yet he was able to effectively parry them all and sent a devastating counter-attack.

The Odelon staggered as the full blunt force of the swing shook it's body, using the momentum of the attack, it lashed out its tentacles knocking back Zuskato as he blocked the swings, he sidestepped another swing and parried the other, the Odelon's eye flared red as it charged up its laser beam to disintegrate the raven-haired adventurer.

Zuskato tsked while dodging out the way of the beam, he took this opportunity to unsheathed his katana and aimed for the Odelon's center eye, and within a split of a second he dashed through the Odelon and appeared behind it, three consecutive slashes flared as if they were created all at the same time, each one hitting the Odelon yet it stood firm, injured but firm nonetheless.

Knowing that it would turn around and attack, Zuskato quickly swung his blade and sheathed back just as quickly, staggering the monster as it felt the sting of the slashes, backing away, it was once more angered by the injuries it sustained while it's opponent looked relatively fine minus the small cuts on his clothing.

He kept a neutral face, tilting his head a bit making his hat cover his face while only showing his left eye, his left hand gripping the holster of his weapon while the right hand hovered close to the hilt, the right side of his body slightly forward, keeping his eyes on the monster in front of him, it stared him down, it's body language absolutely screaming the word pounce.

Zuskato grinned as he got the Odelon to charged with reckless abandon, when it came close to him it raised it's two tentacles hoping to cut down the adventurer before it, however, Zuskato was able to slide underneath its legs and slice one of them before standing back up and slashes upwards.

It let out a bloodcurdling screech, crashing down to the floor as it lost its sense of balance due to having it's supporting leg severed from its body, it tried to turn around to at least retaliate against its opponent but Zuskato didn't give it any chance as he sliced off the remaining tentacles with a single stroke of his blade.

Without hesitation, Zuskato plunged his katana into the eye of the Odelon, digging in deep as it trashed and squirmed about, after a few seconds it stopped and it's life forfeit, the raven-haired adventurer ripped out his sword and swung it to rid off the blood before sheathing it back into its holster, he sighed as the feeling of adrenaline slowly left his system.

He sat down on the floor, tried from the countless times of hunting Odelons for EXP, he got a call from his friend, Shiro, saying that he'll join him for Power leveling and that Joe might come along with him, but that was an hour ago and they still haven't arrived, sighing for a second time he reached back into his pockets and pulled out a pouch, undoing the knot, he was greeted with the sight of corn snacks, he took a piece and hummed softly, tasting the sweet consumable in his mouth.

"Thank you Sofya City." He praised, glad that he stopped by the market place and grabbed some of them when he did, after eating a few of them, he neatly tied the knot back and returned it to his pocket.

He observed his surroundings, watching the Horn Machinas go about their business while the Ledon Machinas gather around the dead Odelon Zuskato just killed, he smirked as they turned towards him and stared at him before scattering and running away from him.

He looked around and saw another Odelon standing by itself, Zuskato debated whether or not to attack the monster now or wait for his friends to appear, but knowing they're already taking a while to get here, got up and dashed straight to the Odelon, it tensed as it saw the adventurer running towards it and readied to fight.

It was lashed out one of its bladed appendages but it completely missed as Zuskato knew that would be its reaction and stopped himself, smirking, he swung his katana three times each one generating a wind force strong enough to hurt the monster, it swiped a tentacle underneath Zuskato's feet, forcing him to jump up to avoid it, however, that was what it needed in order to trick him while it wrapped a tentacle around his leg and slammed him to the ground.

He groaned as his back collided with the floor's hard surface yet it was far from over, the Odelon dragged him across the floor and smashed him into a wall, cracking the surface, it flung him in the air and grabbed him again just to slam him back down like a hammer, the impact caused a tremor inside of the factory and a large dust cloud soon followed. 

"Fuck, oh- oh- that hurts." Zuskato cursed as he felt the full brunt of everything that just happened, even with the injuries he sustained, he was able to push himself enough to avoid getting skewered by the sharp ends of the Odelon's appendages, flipping about so he can land on his feet, Zuskato parried a strike and avoided another doing the same thing for the next few seconds as he tried to keep himself alive.

Irritated by his persistence, the Odelon tried to swipe at his feet, knowing better than to fall for the same trick twice, Zuskato jumped like before but instead of just waiting for it to grab him again, he twisted his body in the air to use the momentum to aid in his strike and spun slash the tentacle that was supposed to grab him, green blood oozed out of the wound as the Odelon reeled back and screeched in pain.

The raven-haired adventurer landed on his feet safely and took a second to catch his breath as he gazed at the Odelon trying to tend to its wound, he silently thanked Viola for her tendency of tackling him every time they meet enabling him to perform the move as easily as he did, taking the distraction to his advantage, Zuskato dashed for the Odelon as it finally stopped bleeding.

It noticed him running towards it and powered its laser beam up, its eye glowed red while aiming for Zuskato's head, he smirked as he stopped himself from running and redirected the beam upwards with his blade, along with that he countered with a devastating counter-attack that staggered the Odelon, Zuskato kept up the assault and slashed the monster as much as he can without getting hit by it.

Angered, the Odelon fired off its beams in bursts, forcing Zuskato on the defensive to avoid them from turning him to ashes, though the same can't be said for the Ledons and Horn Machinas that were caught in the crossfire, during his evasion of the red beams, the Odelon struck out horizontally which caused Zuskato to duck underneath said slash while sidestepping to avoid one and blocking the other.

He pushed the tentacle away from him and trained his blade towards the Odelon, it narrowed its gaze on Zuskato.

Fortunately, his back-up has arrived.

"I'm here!" A voice announced which caught the attention of both Zuskato and the Odelon, clothed in an opened up black jacket showing his bare chest, silver garments and red stylings, a black spiked choker around his neck, black pants, a blue-colored scythe on his back and black gradually turn blue wolf-like ears on top of his head along with a wolf tail, black hair, and black eyes, along with his silver katana.

His friend and fellow guildmate, Shiro.

The co-guild leader sprinted towards the Odelon now that he got its attention away from his leader, he unsheathed his katana and aimed it at the Odelon, Shiro lunged at it with the intent to kill the monster as fast as possible.

It watched as the speeding bullet that was Shiro came ever so close to plunging his blade into its body. 

When he was close enough and stabbed his blade forward...

...Only for the Odelon to safely lean its body to avoid the strike as Shiro dashed over it.

And stabbed another, unsuspecting Odelon just as it was harmlessly walking by.

It screeched in pain, gazing with its one eye at Shiro who was staring it down as well.

And a few seconds later, Shiro was flung straight into a wall hard enough to create a crack that resembled a giant spiderweb, Zuskato winced as he heard the impact of the force and worried about his friend's current condition, luckily, he was answered with Shiro getting up almost unfazed by the attack.

The co-leader wiped his mouth of dirt and frowned, likely annoyed by the Odelon who tossed him into a wall, he breathed out and straightened himself.

Shiro lowered his torso and kept his right hand hovering over his katana's sheath, he once again dashed at the Odelon who threw him like a piece of paper, it tried to intercept the co-leader with its bladed appendage but he saw it coming a mile away and changed his course to parry the strike and countered with a slash that knocked back the Odelon.

Thanks to his friend, Zuskato took the opportunity to slash the nearest Odelon while they were distracted, he struck the Odelon he was previously fighting and parried the other that tried to slice him while Shiro went behind his fellow guildmate to intercept the sharp end of a tentacle from killing Zuskato, said male was able to parry all of the Odelon's strikes and retaliated with his own before knocking it back with a swift kick.

On the other hand, Shiro evaded all of the attacks from the Odelon he was fighting and delivered an upward vertical slash that forced the Odelon's body to face up, he slashed the main body three times before going behind it and slamming his hilt into the back of the monster, pushing it away.

Zuskato came around and slashed away with the Odelon, one, two, three and more slash marks appeared in its body as it was peppered with strikes from all angles, taking the initiative, Shiro switched with Zuskato and began hacking away with the monster, a quick unsheathed slash pushed the Odelon back one step only to repeat it a couple of times as the afterimages of Shiro all did a slash.

The Odelon that was wounded wasn't forgotten as Zuskato came about and swept slashed its limbs causing it to fall down to the ground, the guild leader pounced on top of the Odelon and tried to dig his blade into its body, however, it was able to save itself with a block and smacked Zuskato off of its body.

He rolled over the ground and leaped up while parrying three attacks simultaneously with one swing, he grabbed one of the tentacles and used it to bring himself to the monster, the Odelon's one eye widen as Zuskato was speeding towards it quickly, it flung its tentacles again but the guild leader deflected them skillfully with his katana's blade, knowing that doing the same thing would yield the same results it used its laser beam to throw him off his course and it did, Zuskato at the last second let his grip go and avoid the attack.

Meanwhile, with Shiro, he fared far better than his guild leader, keeping the Odelon he was fighting on its toes, erm, blades? Whatever, with constant pressing attacks and strikes that overpowered the Odelons defenses even when it got the chance to counter it was always either reflected, parried or blocked with ease, it thrust it's bladed appendage forward only for Shiro to lean right and avoid it completely, not wanting to let it recover from its failed strike, Shiro stomped on the tentacle and slashed it, slicing it off from the main body, it screeched in an unholy manner as the pain of losing a limb reached its nerves.

It was silenced as a silver scabbard was flung at it, Shiro was the one who threw it and just as quickly retrieved it, the Odelon tried to use this opportunity to attack but the co-leader used his scabbard to parry away the strike and skillfully spun the cloth frame and sheath his katana back into it, he stepped back two feet to dodge a swing from the monster who tried to retaliate, with a flick of his wrist and a spun of his katana, Shiro slammed his blade's hilt into the body of the Odelon paralyzing it for a second which was enough time for him to slash it in blinding speed too fast for it to react the aftermath was a large scar on its body.

"This is getting kind of tiring," Zuskato commented while stopping the bladed ends of the Odelon's tentacles, he kept a firm stance, holding back the appenages with his strength.

"Yeah, it is." A soft nonchalant reply came from Shiro as he parried away a strike from the Odelon effortlessly.

"How long do you think till Joe show's up?" Zuskato asked as he was able to use his speed to slice and dice.

"Sorry, I'm late!" 

"About now," Shiro answered as he looked behind and saw Joe with his blades out for blood. 

The greentte brought them together in a cross and made a mad dash for the closest Odelon, which was next to Shiro, his entire body glowed blue before dashing through and appearing behind the Odelon, an "X" shaped scar on its body, powering through its injuries, it turned around and tried to slash the substitute leader only for it to hit metal, Joe, having known exactly how the machina would react, was able to think two steps ahead of it and blocked the attack when it was coming.

He pushed them away while doing a right-handed downward diagonal slash followed up with two more, he leaned his head to the left, avoiding a fatal blow from the Odelon as it tried to stab him in the middle of his combo, Joe answered with a spinning slash that generated a whirlwind of slashes knocking back the Machina and blinding it for a bit, pressing the attack, Joe crouched down and dashed for the knocked back Odelon, within getting one meter close to it, he suddenly became intangible easily phasing through the would-be attacks and paying back with counterattacks.

At the end of Phantom Slash, Joe appeared in-front of the Odelon, seeing him, it quickly shot its eye beam at him in hopes of incinerating the new pest... Only for Joe to once again turn intangible and phase through it like it wasn't even there in the first place, only this time, a wave of electricity flowed through the Odelon, damaging it, In a split of a second, Joe was able to cast Flash Burst which left behind a trail of electricity every time he dodges or evade an attack, this went on for about two or three minutes in as Joe kept evading attacks left and right even aggro-ing the Odelon Zuskato was fighting, he dodged, parried, avoided, evaded and blocked all the strikes thrown at him with a smile and his face.

"Ha, can't hit me!" Joe taunted, easily avoiding a laser beam from the two Odelons, the monsters pressed on, trying to hit him but to no avail, it was annoying them, which was what Joe wanted, he wanted to aggro them and get their attention away from his friends.

All of which, worked, Shiro took a breather and ate a corn snack, Zuskato did the same taking only one while his friend ate two of his, deciding it was enough to heal his wounds, for now, charged at the nearest Odelon with his green bladed katana glowing a red-orange hue, an Odelon flung its tentacles towards Joe only for Zuskato to deflect them saving his friend from turning into a pincushion, and when he was fully healed, Shiro too joined back into the fray helping Joe as he dodged around.

Joe flipped over an attacked and landed safely on the tentacle, using this opportunity, he sliced the appendage with both of his swords ripping off the limp and narrowly avoiding a fast but sloppy strike from the body it was attached to, he smirked underneath his blue Potum mask, landing on his feet and brandishing his swords with Shiro entering the scene with a low slash to off-balance the Odelon and smack it with his handle, the impact pushed the Machina a few feet away, it stood back up and eyed the co-leader, it's single eye glowed red and fired off its laser beam.

Shiro answered with Pulse Blade while swinging his katana three times and just like Zuskato, it generated a wind force strong enough to compete with the laser beam, the first wave clashed and weakened it while the second completely broke it to let the third wave go without interruption, hitting the eye of the Odelon, it recoiled back in pain opening itself up to an attack from behind courtesy of Banana Joe, the greentte brought his swords together in a cross and blocked a strike from the Machina, using the momentum of the attack, Joe redirected it all back to the Odelon and forced it back.

Frustrated, it swung every tentacle it had madly, forcing the two guildmates to defend or dodge against it, this, in turn, made Joe kickstart a small whirlwind of wind and lightning hurting the Odelon but it kept up its assault, fortunately for the Machina, a stray lightning bolt was redirected and hit a nearby Odelon minding its own business, the bolt connected and injured the Odelon, looking for whoever it was that lightning belonged to, catching a glimpse of Joe, it fired up its eye beam and with accurate precision, was able to graze the greentte in the back of his shoulder.

"Ah, crap-" Joe hissed, the stinging feeling of heat caused him to lose his momentum and plummet down to the floor, Shiro saw his friend crash and tried to get to him fast, only to be stopped in his tracks because of a bladed appendage coming his way he brought his katana up to guard against the strike and pushed it away, he continued his sprint towards his friend, sliding underneath the Odelon and stopping directly next to Joe.

"Come on Joe, get up." Shiro patted the greentte's back and got him up to his feet, Joe would've thanked him if he didn't see the Odelon about to bring down its bladed tentacle on them, he pushed Shiro away and backed off, saving both him and his friend.

The two guildmates rolled back onto their feet and readied themselves for another assault, which they didn't even get the chance to do as a tentacle wrapped itself around Joe's leg and pulled him, he let out a surprised shout causing Shiro to snap his head towards his friend seeing that he was suddenly pulled away, Joe struggled to turn his body and face the Odelon that had him in its grasp but the best he could do was being slammed into a wall, hard, the impact dazed him causing him to loosen his grip on his swords and dropping them to the ground, realizing the urgency of the situation, Shiro made a mad dash towards the Odelon currently holding his friend.

Unsheathing his katana, the co-leader suddenly appeared behind the Odelon, a "Sling!" sound rang throughout the factory followed by three slashes on the Machina's body causing it to wince and drop Joe in the process, Shiro sheathed his blade back and quickly ran to break Joe's fall, he caught the falling banana and let him stand on his feet, they split up, Shiro going after the Odelon while Joe went to retrieve his swords, grabbing up from the floor, he watched as his fellow guildmates fought against their respective Odelons, turning, he spotted the Odelon he and Shiro left alone, with a one second of build-up, he dashed.

Like a speeding bullet with the strength of a truck, Joe slammed his foot dead center of the Odelon's eye, causing it to recoil back in pain, using the Machina as a platform, Joe flung himself up into the air before using Shadowstep to appear behind the Odelon before it could fully fall down to the ground, he spun around, Spinning Slash to knock back the Odelon forward, casting Warcry, the substitute leader unleashed a fury of slashes upon the Odelon, the last three strikes he did flung the Machina into a wall, cracking it.

Smirking, he made his way towards the Odelon, intent on continuing the onslaught, meanwhile, Shiro side-flipped over a sweeping slash landing on the outstretched appendage, he spun his katana and slammed the sharp blade into the tentacle, digging in deep and even embedding it through the floor itself, locking his opponent in place, Shiro reached into his back and grabbed the handle of his scythe. Spinning the bladed polearm, he brandishes it before switching into a combat position.

The Odelon watched with curiosity, seeing its opponent using a different weapon than before, that curiosity was quickly replaced by pain as a slash from the blue glowing blade of the scythe made its way through the Machina, with one violent pull, a severed appendage went with it, the co-leader silenced the Odelon with a swift kick to the eye, staggering it, he came close to it and raised his scythe high above his head, ready to bring it down and end the life of the Machina...

"Oof!-" Had he not be interrupted by Joe slamming into him and flinging both of them into a wall.

Emerging from the smoke was an Odelon, looking worse for wear but better than its kin on the floor, it strode past the downed Machina opting to keep its attention at the two adventurers, while it did, the downed Odelon noticed the blue scythe laying on the floor having been dropped by Shiro after the impact. Seeing the weapon, it grabbed it with its remaining 'hand' and flung it towards the recovering adventurers.

The blade whizzled through the air aiming for its user, Shiro, he was saved from the ill fate by a dagger thrown in the trajectory of the blade, sparks flew as the scythe was thrown out of bounce and hit the wall beside Shiro, missing him by an inch, Zuskato, having been the one who threw the dagger frowned as he saw another Odelon joining in the fight, one was enough, two was pushing it and three? That's just a death wish, he'll deal with the other two later, first, he has to kill the one he was already fighting against. 

The problem was, he couldn't, he had to forego the Odelon in front of him and aggro the other two or else they'll kill his guildmates, cursing his luck, Zuskato sidestep a lunge from the Odelon and spun around it to deliver a roundhouse kick to the back of the Machina, with it out of the way, Zuskato ran towards the other two Odelons with his katana unsheathed, hearing his steps, the Odelons momentarily shifted their attention to the approaching raven-haired adventurer, one of them fired off its eye beam while the other lunged its tentacles at him.

Raising his blade in front of him, he redirected the red hot beam before dodge out the way of three-bladed appendages, changing his course he went straight for the already injured Odelon only for its kin to intervene and save it from a deathly fate, Zuskato tsked shifting his weight to his front foot so he may stop himself from impaling his body into the bladed end of the Odelon's tentacles, he placed his katana in between the attack of the Odelon, blocking it as he was knocked back a few feet.

He dug his feet down, skidding as it did so until he was able to fully stop the knockback and grab the outstretched tentacle, using his surprisingly good amount of strength, swung the Odelon straight into a wall, cracking it big time and even causing the factory to shake, letting go of the appendage, Zuskato made a mad sprint for the critically injured Odelon, it couldn't use its tentacles since it no longer had any so it opted for its laser beam instead.

Zuskato B-twist flipped over the beam and landed on his feet. To his luck, he had landed right in front of the Odelon, without hesitation, he plunged his katana straight into the eye of it, keeping the blade in place as the Machina thrashed around with the little life it had left only to be snuffed out, ripping his sword out of its newly found sheath, turning around he was greeted by the blurred vision of blade coming at him, without a second to recover from his previous kill, Zuskato was impaled by the sharp blade of the Odelon's tentacle.

"Ahh!" He growled, feeling the cold steel pierce his right shoulder blade and out of his back, his blood dripped out the wound, ruining his suit. He felt his body being lifted up and a moment later, thrown back down to the ground in a violent manner, a spider crack forming underneath Zuskato, he let out a pained grunt, shakingly standing back up despite the injuries he sustained as his body was screaming at him to heal, he weakly tried to reach into his back pocket but fate had other plans, a tentacle wrapped around the arm and dragged Zuskato through the floor, smashing into different types of debris before getting slammed directly into a wall.

He powered through the pain, landing on his feet, barely standing but standing nonetheless, his suit ruined with large cuts, tears, the entirety of his right sleeve ripped off, his hat was miraculously unharmed despite the amount of damage its owner sustained, he was slouching over, his body felt heavy but even with the pain, he ignored it all and stood to his full height, he cracked his neck with his left hand to get rid of the stiffness, he winced when he clinched his wound, stinging him greatly.

Zuskato's face hardened, his gaze unreadable, and within moments, his wound combusted in azure flames and the wind generated by it pushed back the Odelon readying to stab Zuskato while he was standing, it dug down its tentacles in order to counteract the wind, once it had a firm grip on the floor and leashed out aiming for the guild leader's head. Only for it to never get there.

A white, skeletal arm caught the appendage, the Odelon tried to recall its arm back but no matter how much it struggled it wouldn't budge from the tight grip, the skeletal being pulled the Machina towards it, catching the Odelon it let the machine take a good look at its face, it's skull ablaze with the eye sockets emitting flames, its horns sticking out and the frown it had, the Oniophany snarled at the Machina before throwing it across the factory.

It materialized its swords, one on each hand and lunged at the Odelon, meanwhile, from the corner of his eyes, Zuskato saw the Odelon he was originally fighting running towards him, he didn't flinch even when the bloodlust Odelon charged at him like a raging bull, it thrust all of its bladed tentacles at him, hoping to skewer him, Zuskato simply leaned back letting them pass uninterrupted, once they harmlessly went through, he reeled his foot back and kicked the Odelon.

The force staggered it enough for Zuskato to quickly slash it, it had not been given time to lament its pain as a headbutt from the guild leader silenced any, it hit the floor, trying to regain its bearings, Zuskato watched with cold eyes as he calmly walked up to the downed Odelon, his steps leaving a small flame behind, sensing him, it leashes out its tentacles all of which were expertly deflected or block by Zuskato, each faster than the last yet not one being able to puncture through his defenses.

While this was proceeding, Shiro finally recovered from the attack from before and decided to scan his general area, what he saw was carnage, the walls, and floor of the factory had numerous cracks of different sizes in them, an Odelon laying on the floor lifeless, he found his scythe sticking out of the wall next to him and Joe still laying down to his right, he nudged the banana causing him to flinch and shot up.

"Ugh, my back hurts-" Joe groaned in pain, placing a hand behind his back, looking in front of him he saw Zuskato fighting an Odelon alone while getting a glimpse of another Odelon fighting a white skeletal being, "The Oniophany!?"

Shiro's eyes widen at the statement, he frantically searched for the being of that name and indeed saw it in its full form, it took the full blunt force of the Odelon's attacks only to be unfazed by it, it roared while dispelling its swords and grabbing the Odelon by the eye, it let out a series of punches, it grabbed a tentacle and proceeded to smash the puny Odelon before lifting the Machina up so it could throw it back down like a ragdoll, then it rematerialized its swords once more, somehow getting more angrier.

Both guildmembers shuddered at the brutality of the demonic figure, knowing that when it was summoned means Zuskato must be pissed off to a degree, and he felt a shiver when he remembered that it was him and Joe that caused him to be pissed at the moment. And when he looked towards Joe he seemed to have reached the same conclusion.

Silently, they watched their guild leader fight with no reason to interrupt.

Zuskato weaved around a strike countering with haymaker punch, it didn't stop there as he delivered a triple kick, knocking back the Odelon, he blocked a retaliation before stopping in his tracks, Zuskato closed his eyes and held his katana high over his head, time slowed down while every sound was drowned out, the Odelon and Zuskato were the only things in color, the machina moved to attack fast but for Zuskato it slowed down to a halt, within a millisecond, the guild leader brought his katana down slicing the Odelon's second tentacle, a large burst of wind imploded in itself shaking the entire factory to its core.

"Ah-"

"God damn Zusk!"

Both Shiro and Joe almost lost their footing from their friend's display of power while the Odelon who got slashed screeched in pain, losing another limb made it recoil back to tend to its wound only for it to be silenced as Zuskato's eyes snapped open and a myriad of slashes appeared one by one out of nowhere slicing both Odelons and damaging them greatly, the heavy gushes they sustained showed how injured they were, meanwhile Joe Flash Burst out of a stray bladed appendage of an Odelon that would've slammed down on him if he didn't dodge out in time.

Shiro, on the other hand, kept his stance firm while the raging winds clashed against him, he brought his right arm in front of his eyes to shield them, once the wind started to die down, the co-leader surveyed the area witnessing the destruction his friend created, dead Lebon Machinas littered the floor, parts of Horn Machinas and Missile Golems lay wasting away, the walls and floor of the factory sported large and small cuts, the ones left standing other than Zuskato, Joe and Shiro were the Odelons who were lucky to even still be standing.

The guild leader sheathed his katana, the familiar 'Clink!' sound rang and walked towards the downed Odelons, his aura flaring dangerously as each step left a small blue flame mark, his Oniophany hovered behind him protectively it's eye sockets ablazed with blue fire and its arms open with its flaming swords at the ready, it's permanent frown somehow managed to deepen while it stared down the Machinas with murderous intent, the Odelons tried to use their laser beam but what came out was just a slight red hue and a flicker.

They tried standing up yet their bodies betrayed them, they tried to retaliate only for their tentacles to flop down, the only thing they could do is watch, watch as the cold, loathing gaze of Zuskato fell on them and soon their deaths as well.

He stopped just one meter away from them, his gaze was frightening to the Machinas, which they shouldn't even feel at all, the Oniophany dispelled a sword, opting to grab an Odelon from the ground, raising it up into the air, it weakly tried to retaliate but had no energy left to do so, the demonic figure watched unimpressed the pathetic display of persistence it flung the Machina high up and the air and stabbed it as it descended.

The Oniophany ripped the body off and discarded its parts like trash, Zuskato then turned his attention to the last final Odelon alive, he stepped forward, letting the flames make their way towards it, they made contact, burning the Machina as it screeched in pain, Zuskato watched, not bothered in the slightest at the cruel fate the Odelon was experiencing, his friends on the other hand were.

"How pissed do you think Zuskato is right now?" Joe whispered, as to not get Zuskato's attention.

"We're about to find out," Shiro explained while watching his friend burn the Odelon alive, the Oniophany raised both its arms over its head just as Zuskato diverted his attention away from the Odelon and began walking towards his guildmates.

The blades of the Oniophany combusted in flames, then, with one motion, brought them down to strike the Odelon once and for all, it wasn't able to screech, it wasn't able to react nor was it able to do anything else other than watch its life flash before its eye when the blades made contact, the flames immediately consumed the Odelon whole which illuminated the entire room in blue as a pillar of flame shot up.

The demonic being let out one last roar before dispelling back into the spiritual realm, Zuskato stopped in front of Shiro and Joe, the both of them tried to avert eye contact with him, but that didn't bother him at all.

"Never. _Ever_ , make me fight three Odelons, _again_." Zuskato said in a calm tone before walking past them and pulling out a teleport ticket from his pocket.

"Sorry-"

"Oof-" 

Joe and Shiro apologized as they watched Zuskato crushed the tp in his hand and disappear in a blue flash, likely going somewhere he can blow off some steam, silence soon took over after he finally left the factory, leaving the two alone together, Joe slumped, fatigue catching up to him at last.

"Ouch, am I beat." Joe groaned grumbled, Shiro nodding in agreement, the black-haired co-leader scanned his surroundings looking for any more Odelons in the area, finding nothing, he pulled out the same teleport ticket Zuskato had and gove one to Joe.

"After what Zusk did, the Machinas won't be spawning any time soon, might as well go somewhere else," Shiro concluded, the greenette nodded and accepted the ticket, doing the same thing their leader did.

Within moments, the factory was empty, no adventurers, no Machinas, just silence and the bodies of the dead machines.

-

After the flash died down, Zuskato opened his eyes, letting out a tired sigh, he came close to his door and turned the doorknob, he saw nobody in the living room, deciding it was a perfect opportunity to get some peace and quiet, he made his way towards the couch after strapping his katana on its handle and putting his knife back to the drawing, he then slumped down on it like a rock.

He pulled a pillow close to his torso and hugged it comfortably, he buried his face into the bedding item and let out a long and tired sigh, not noticing he wasn't alone in his house as he thought.

"Zusky?" A high pitched feminine voice spoke, lift his head up, Zuskato saw the owner of the voice, wearing an apron over her clothing.

"Viola? What are you doing here?" He said dryly.

"I live here, silly." She answered, undoing her apron and discarding it to the table near her, Viola walked her way to the couch, she looked down on Zuskato, waiting for his response.

"What?"

"Get up, imma give you a lap pillow!" Viola smiled, Zuskato debated whether he should humor her request, but after the shit he went through, might as well get as comfortable as he can get, shrugging, he got up to let her squeeze in, Viola happily sat down and prepped her lap to him, accepting the invitation, Zuskato rested his head on her thighs, closing his eyes while Viola took off his hat and stroke his hair gently.

"You look like you went through a lot."

_"Mhm."_

"Want to talk about it?"

_"No."_

"Ok. Are you enjoying my thighs?" She got no reply, giggling, Viola continued to stroke the guild leader's head, taking in the rare wholesome moment with her male counterpart.

It didn't last long though.

The door opened suddenly which caused Viola to snap open her eyes and stared at the person who ruined then moment, his yellow eyes held confused as he saw the image before him

"Am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, heya, Xanzer, how was your day?"


End file.
